Need all the discharge info I can get.

[mjrprint]

So here is the story. My boss has had me experimenting with discharge inks for the last month or two. I have pulled off a few 4 color designs and some one color stuff, 3-5 pieces per test maybe. Now my boss is the kinda guy who will jump headfirst as soon as he sees something he likes and I can pull it off.  Before I get to the next part let me tell you I work in the collegiate industry and we actually produce our own garments which will help explain this next part. Soooooo now that I have successfully pulled off a few prints he is considering printing our one line of womens tee with all discharge inks. To give you an idea we printed 150,000 of these last year!! You can guess that I am crapping my pants right now because if anything were to happen or go wrong guess who would be to blame and who should have known everything about discharge in two months.

Now there is another owner that is not about this idea and has read up on all the problems associated with discharge inks. He would also be the one opposing the change. I am in the middle of this whole arguement with one telling me to figure it out and the other telling me I better make it perfectly clear to boss "A" what can go wrong. Ain't life grand lol. So I am asking you experts for any help, advice, pros & cons, and whatever else you can come up with. I am also doing some research on my own and coming up with a presentation for these two. Any help from the gang would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!!

[mk162]

I would try and message (not massage) tony.

The biggest problem I've had with discharge is stencil failure.  There is a permanent stencil hardener....get that.

The other problem I've had is buildup on the back of the screens.  I think this was a plasticharge problem though.  I would avoid multi-color plasticharge.

I wish I had more for you.  Tony is the guy when it comes to this stuff.

[Frog]

The main thing that I see constantly cropping up is that some shirts just naturally discharge better than others.
By making your own garments, you could have a little more control over this in that, you could, at the very least check batches of fabric before committing to the process for the specific shirt.

[tonypep]

Hi folks I'm hijacking this thread temporarily to let you know that I have moved on to a new co. in Nashville specializing in music merch starting January. Pls understand the relo and new job is going to preoccupy me and I may lay low on the boards for a few if not several months. In the meantime I will try later to better respond to the thread.
Your issue is not unique BTW.

[Fluid]

Yup stencil failure is huge and like mentioned there are hardeners yet I would look carefully before using them.  Some make it so you can't remove the stencil at all.  We had great success with post exposing for a good amount of time and letting the screen sit in the sun for a full day to help harden the stencil.

Also some fabricks and brands discharge better than others depending on what brand of discharge you use.

From out tests, Wilfflex's NF Discharge worked the best with Gikdan T's. It gave the brightest and most consistent discharge over all the other brands.  Plus the NF is a Non Formaldehyde discharge which should help with your not so loving the idea other boss.

I would highly suggest making sure your dryer is vented well though no matter what type or brand you use. The smell is a little intense yet the NF isnt all that bad. You can definitely smell it yet nothing like all the horror stories you've read.

[DanK]

Discharge is tough but fun.

Since you are having your own garments manufactured, you have some good control there.  Work closely with your dye house to make sure you are getting dye reactive or discharge friendly dyes.  Work with them to use the best dyes for discharge printing.

You will need to treat almost every ink mix as a custom mix.  Be prepared to put it in the screen, test it, then pull it off the screen and remix if you have to.

As previous posters mentioned, make sure you have the right WB specific emulsion or hardener.

Use a ton of tape.

Stay on top of your QC, a QC person on press and someone with good eyes keeping an eye on every shirt at the end of the dryer too.  Since you can't really see the print until it's cured, it's hard to spot QC issues until it's cured.

Mark it up a little, and be prepared to spend extra time on it...  That being said, it's well worth the extra troubles...

[tonypep]

Ok real quick......use the CCI 25WR emulsion and hardner and post expose. Others can work but this is best for me. Be sure to use leftover emulsion as block out aroud the edges.

[Fluid]

ALso make sure you are using a great dryer. The more heat the better the discharge.

and excuse all my typos.  I'm a freaking artist and still learning the English language, lol

[mk162]

artists are the worst with typos..and hookers are the worst with discharge.  Eww, I went there.

[Fluid]

artists are the worst with typos..and hookers are the worst with discharge.  Eww, I went there.

Bah that is awesome.  lol

[mjrprint]

Thank you all for all the info so far. All great points.

[mjrprint]

For the latest test I printed a two color simple design that was red and white on black. Turned out great and I wash tested all the shirts. The white looks almost cracked a bit. My thoughts are that I may have layed down too much ink and printed with a plas technique by habit. Any ideas what might have caused the cracking?

[mk162]

it might be not enough penetration.  Try pushing the ink in a little more.

[DanK]

Yeah, not enough penetration.  At that volume I assume you are on an automatic press.

Increase the downward pressure on your squeegee compared to that of plastisol, also give it a more aggressive angle rather than the upright angle needed to shear plastisol.

Print on contact, lay that screen right on the shirt/pallet.

The crust is just the residue of heavy pigment load, or a pigment load that was not pushed far enough into the garment fibers.  It would wash out with the first wash, but you don't want to do that, so what you need to do is bury those pigments in the garment, right now, much of it is just sitting on top of the garment.

[ebscreen]

Look on the inside of the shirt and see how well the white penetrated. Many whites can
benefit quite a bit from adding %5-%10 water and/or penetrant/printgen.